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The SQ3R
Reading Method
Properly we should read for power.
Man reading should be
man intensely alive.
The book should be a ball of light.
Ezra Pound
English 1885 - 1972 /
  • Reading critically
  • Prereading strategies
  • SQ3R reading method ◄
  • KWL reading method
  • Reading difficult material
  • Taking notes from text books
  • Reading assignments in science
  • Reading essays
  • Interpretive reading
  • Reading fiction
  • Fiction: narrator & character types
  • Speed & comprehension
  • Marking & underlining

SQ3R is a reading strategy formed from its letters:
Survey! Question! Read! Recite! Review!
SQ3R will help you build a framework to understand your reading assignment.
Before you read, Survey
the chapter: /
  • the title, headings, and subheadings
  • captions under pictures, charts, graphs or maps
  • review questions or teacher-made study guides
  • introductory and concluding paragraphs
  • summary

Question
while you are surveying: /
  • Turn the title, headings, and/or subheadings into questions
  • Read questions at the end of the chapters or after each subheading
  • Ask yourself, "What did my instructor say about this chapter or subject when it was assigned?"
  • Ask yourself, "What do I already know about this subject?"
Note: If it is helpful to you, write out these questions for consideration. This variation is called SQW3R
When you begin to
Read: /
  • Look for answers to the questions you first raised
  • Answer questions at the beginning or end of chapters or study guides
  • Reread captions under pictures, graphs, etc.
  • Note all the underlined, italicized, bold printed words or phrases
  • Study graphic aids
  • Reduce your speed for difficult passages
  • Stop and reread parts which are not clear
  • Read only a section at a time and recite after each section

Recite
after you've read a section: /
  • Orally ask yourself questions about what you have just read, or summarize, in your own words, what you read
  • Take notes from the text but write the information in your own words
  • Underline or highlight important points you've just read
  • Use the method of recitation which best suits your particular learning style but remember, the more senses you use the more likely you are to remember what you read - i.e.,
TRIPLE STRENGTH LEARNING:
Seeing, saying, hearing-
QUADRUPLE STRENGTH LEARNING:
Seeing , saying , hearing, writing!!!
Review:
an ongoing process. / Day One
  • After you have read and recited the entire chapter,
    write questionsin the margins for those points you have highlighted or underlined.
  • If you took notes while reciting,
    write questions for the notes you have taken in the left hand margins of your notebook.
  • Complete the form for a critical reading review
Day Two
  • Page through the text and/or your notebook to re-acquaint yourself with the important points.
  • Cover the right hand column of your text/note-book and orally ask yourself the questions in the left hand margins.
  • Orally recite or write the answers from memory.
  • Make flash cards for those questions which give you difficulty.
  • Develop mnemonic devices for material which need to be memorized.
Days Three, Four and Five
  • Alternate between your flash cards and notes and test yourself (orally or in writing) on the questions you formulated.
  • Make additional flash cards if necessary.
Weekend
Using the text and notebook, make a Table of Contents - list all the topics and sub-topics you need to know from the chapter.
From the Table of Contents, make a Study Sheet/ Spatial Map.
Recite the information orally and in your own words as you put the Study Sheet/Map together.
Now that you have consolidated all the information you need for that chapter, periodically review the Sheet/Map so that at test time you will not have to cram.
Based upon Robinson, Francis Pleasant. (1970) Effective study. New York: Harper & Row.